EVOCATIVE and thought-provoking images of war by landscape painter and war artist Gordon Rushmer are currently being exhibited in the main gallery at Salisbury Library alongside a new acquisition to the John Creasey collection by Paul Nash.

Paul Nash was an official war artist throughout the First and Second World Wars, and the painting entitled Ghost in the Shale, was painted at Kimmeridge Bay in 1942, one of a series inspired by the Dorset coastline.

Gordon Rushmer’s paintings from some of the most recent conflicts – Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan – while attached to the Royal Marines and Special Forces, have previously been exhibited at the Imperial War Museum.

It is through this connection that curator Peter Riley invited the Petersfieldbased artist to exhibit his works in Salisbury.

Prior to his invitation to become a war artist, Gordon primarily painted landscapes, and it was following a commission for the Royal Marines in 1997 that the appointment was made: “The Dutch Marines wanted a painter to go to Bosnia. I was very excited if not moderately apprehensive. Wearing body armour and helmet, I took lots and lots of photographs and, where possible, was able to sketch firsthand.

“My innermost workings are my sketchbooks, thoughts on paper, and these are featured in the exhibition.”

One of Gordon’s paintings is simply called Big Bang. “The image says all there is to say of Iraq,” he says. “In this instance Iraqi munitions are being destroyed by Dutch Engineers, but everywhere there are car bombs, suicide bombers and violence. It’s when something hits you in the guts like this.”

The largest of his paintings in the exhibition is called Fallen Minaret (pictured).

“You get very upset with what has gone on and it has to come out. It’s still happening in war zones right now.”

Though this exhibition only features Gordon’s works as a war artist, he regularly exhibits landscape work at The Wykeham Gallery in Stockbridge.